Apparatus for determining the position of foreign bodies by means of roentgen rays.



No. 66l,385. Patented Nov. 6,1900.

6. REMY. APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING THE POSITION OF FOREIGN BODIES BYMEANS OF ROENTGEN' RAYS.

(Application filed Sep'L. 28, 1899.)

(No Model.)

Inventor. M J

m: wonms rzrzns co, moroumo, WASHINGTON, n c,.

Unrric Smrns Atnr FFICEQ CHARLES REMY, OF PARIS, FRANCE.

APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING THE POSITION OF FOREIGN BODIES BY MEANS OFROENTGEN RAYS.

SEECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 661,385, dated November6, 1900. Application filed September 28, 1899 Serial No. 731.961. (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES REMY, a Citizen of the Republic of France,residing at 3 Rue de Londres, Paris, in the Republic of France, haveinvented certain newand useful Improvements in Apparatus for Determiningthe Position of Foreign Bodies by Means of the Roentgen Rays, (for whichI have obtained a patent in France, No. 287,494, dated April 4, 1599,andfor which I made application for patent in Germany on June 27, 1899;)and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My apparatus belongs to the category of radiographic apparatus, in whichone or more Crookes tubes are employed for collecting on a screen orsensitive plate the shadows thrown onto the opaque body interposedbetween the tubes and the screen. By uniting each shadow thrown onto thefocus whereby they have been formed rays are obtained which intersectone another exactly at the seat of the object for which search is beingmade. The problem to be solved is the fixing or materializing of theserays, the intersection of which determines the seat of the body beingsought for, in such a manner that this seat may be formed again at willafter the radiographic operation. In the processes hitherto known theportion of the rays between the screen or the sensitive plate and thefocus has alone been con sidered, this giving rise to difficultieseasily foreseen, since the body to be acted on is itself in the spacebetween the screen and the focus, thus clearly constituting a cause oftrouble in the operation. In my apparatus, on the contrary, I fix ormaterialize the portion of the rays situated beyond the screen in rela-'tion to the foci. This portion of the rays being outside the spaceoccupied by the body to be operated on and as far from this body asdesired, it will be seen that the fixingor niaterializing of thisportion of the rays is in no way interfered with by the presence of thebody to be operated upon. The materializing of this portion of the raysbeing effected, the materialized rays may be displaced for the purposeof returning them to theirinitial position by suitable marking oradjusting parts,

if necessary. Thus my apparatus enables the seat of foreign bodies to bedetermined and the patient to be operated on immediately afterward, theoperator being able to displace momentarily the materialized rays whichindicate to him the position of the foreign body in order to returnthese rays to their initial position if the examination shouldrequireit. My apparatus thus serves not only for localizing the seat ofthe foreign bodies, but for guiding t he surgeon in what is,properlyspeaking, his surgical operation.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation of apparatusconstructed according to this invention, and Fig. 2 is a plan of thesame.

My apparatus comprises a frame or bracket a, capable of being fixed onan operating-table 6 by means of suitable jaws or clamps. The lower armof the frame a is beneath the tablec and carries the supports for theCrookes tube Z. The support for this tube may be movable on the frame insuch a manner that the focus of the tube may occupy twoprecisely-determined extreme positions I) and Z). The employment of twofixed tubes is thus avoided. The upper bent arm of the frame a carries ametal plate perforated with two circular slots k h, having the points I)and I) as their respective centers, the extreme positions in the Crookestube. In each of these slots slides a ferrule f, carrying a long thinrod (l. These ferrules can be fixed bya suitable tightening-screw at anypoint of the slot. In every position of the ferrulesfthe extensions ofthe rods (1 always run through the foci b and 1), respectively. The rods(I may thus serve for materializing all the X-rays comprised in theplane of the rods, which also passes through the foci Z) and I). A vizorg, fixed on the vertical arm of the frame a, enables the position of thefocus of the Crookes tube to be so regulated that the direction of therods (1 runs exactly through the respective foci. For this purpose thesupport of the rod is furnished with suitable mechanism enabling theposition of the focus of the said tube to be precisely regulated.

The bracket-frame acarries another frame h, preferably of rectangularform, Fig. .2, intended for the reception of the diffusingscreen 0 onthe photographic plate.

ICO

The frame a is able to rotate on its own axis 00 y, and this rotationcan be regulated by means of a slide which moves in the groove of asector 2' furnished with a movable stop. In this Way it is easy todetermine the angle of rotation and to bring the frame back again intoany given position. Besides this rotary motion the frame a can be movedvertically in the support, which serves for fixing it on theoperating-table e.

The patient beingplaced on the operatingtable and assuming that 0 is theforeign body to be searched for, the focus of the Crookes tube throws ashadow of this body onto the diffusing-screen c. The focus of the tubebeing at Z), I return the frame a and displace the corresponding rod (1,so that the point of this rod comes into contact with the shadow m ofthe body 0. At this moment the rod d will represent the materialized raywhich has issued from the focus I) and is passing through the body 0.Again, the frame a remaining fixed in the same position I displace theCrookes tube, so as to bring the focus of the same into the secondextreme position 17, thus ohtaininga second shadow m of the body 0 onthe screen 0. I bring the point of the second rod d over this shadow m,and thus materialize a second ray,the intersection of these two raysgiving the precise position of the body 0 in the plane determined by theposition of the frame a. By means of a sheet of paperI can as requiredreproduce graphically t-hedirection. of the two rays and determine theirintersection and the exact position of the body 0. By raising the screen0 I can lower the rods (1 until they touch the body of the patient,whichdetermines the direction of-the body 0 in the body of the patient, andconseq uently enables the surgical operation to be effected quickly andwithout fumbling. If the presence of the rods and of the frame ct causeany inconvenience in the surgical operation, they can, after having byany means noted or fixed the position of research of the framea, bemoved out of the way by rotating the frame on its own axis, so as tomove it away from the table; If later on it is necessary to determine onthe position of the body 0, I can retu'rnthe frame a to its originalposition,which I'eallthe position of research.

It will thus be seen that my apparatus not only enables the seat offoreign bodies to be quickly determined, but the surgeon to be. guidedduring his surgical operation.

Itis of course understood that I do not limit myself to theconstructional details described above and illustrated in theaccompanying drawings furnished by way of ex ample, but reserve theright of modifying these details without altering the nature ofmyinvention. For instance, instead of slots It; and ferrules ffI mightemploy a metal plate bearing two series of plates or grooves very closetogether, the one series converging toward the position b of the focusand the other toward the position b. In this way the rods (1 might beplaced in the appropriate grooves, so that the points of the rods wouldcome in contact with the shadow of the foreign body on thediffusing-screen. Thus the same result would he obtained as with thearrangement indicated in the accompanying drawings.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In apparatus for determining the position of foreign bodies by meansof Roentgen ra \;'s, consisting of a double-armed bracket or frame, ameans for pivoting the frame to the operating-table with one arm aboveand the other below the same, a support mounted on the lower arm andcapable of limited movement, a Crookes tube fixed to the support andmovable therewith, a slotted plate fixed to the, upper arm of thebracket, said slots being circular and struck from the focus of theCrookes tube in its two extreme positions, slides or ferrules adjustablymounted in the slots, rods mounted in the ferrules with their axescoinciding with the radius of the slots and a diffusing screen or platemounted on the frame below the rods, substantially as described' 2. Inapparatus for determining the position of foreign bodies by means ofRoentgen rays, the means for carrying the screen and indicatingapparatus so as to allow of such apparatus being turned aside during thesurgical operation consisting of a clamp or support, a double-armedbracket mounted to rotate on itsv axis in the support, a means fordetermining the angle of rotation and a means for fixing the bracket,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature in presence of. twowitnesses.

CHARLES REMY.

I/Vitnesses:

CHARLES FABER, GASTON DAMOITEAU.

